Tokyo Zoo
Tokyo Zoo is a 2021 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 61st Disney animated feature, the film was directed by Byron Howard from a screenplay by Jennifer Lee and Justin Marks, and features the voices of Eric Close, Skylar Astin, Albert Brooks, Angelina Jolie, Alan Tudyk, George Clooney, E.G. Daily, Tip "T.I." Harris, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The film had its El Capitan Theater release on November 4, 2021 and was released generally on November 24, 2021. Tokyo Zoo was both a critical and commercial success, grossing $495 million on a $180 million budget. Praise was directed toward its voice acting, humor, music, and animation. Plot In the Tokyo International Zoo, on Arthur the meerkat's birthday, Ludwig the lion performs in his lion enclosure. At the end of the day, Ludwig, Thaws the crocodile, and Wendy the giraffe surprise Arthur with his party. Arthur tells his friends that he has wished to go to the wild, leaving them confused. Later that night, Arthur has escaped for a train ride. Thinking the wild can be unsafe for him, Ludwig, Thaws and Wendy follow Arthur, and the four animals are surrounded and shot by tranquilizer darts. Under pressure, the zoo officials put them in crates to be sent back to their habitat. Inside crates, the four animals wake up and find themselves shipped away on a big ship, and Ludwig angrily blames Arthur. Their fight causes the crates to fall into the sea, where they end up in the jungles of China. They hear music and are shocked to hear that they are pandas, and not humans. King Austin, leader of the pandas, congratulates them for scaring off evil snow leopards that tried to eat Mark, a Chinese jumping mouse. His boss, Sterling, worries that Ludwig, as a carnivore, might be dangerous, but Austin ignores those warnings. Meanwhile, Ludwig comes up with a plan to get them rescued from China. He builds a rescue statue, but Wendy accidentally burns it into ashes. Later, Ludwig comes inside Arthur's Casa Del Wild shack with his friends, and they glance at the stars. The next morning, Arthur and Ludwig go wild into the panda kingdom. Ludwig performs for the pandas, but King Austin does not like being upstaged. As Ludwig surprises himself by gathering the crowd in a frenzy, it looks as if he had not eaten in so long that he accidentally attacks Arthur. Sterling sees this and knows that Ludwig is considered too dangerous to be a friend to the zoo animals, or to any of the pandas. Realizing that Ludwig is now a threat, Austin banishes him from the panda kingdom. Now an outcast still crazed with hunger, Ludwig fears that he is a danger to his friends and treks up the mountain. Arthur sees that it is difficult to do something about it with so many predators in the wild and regrets his choice to leave the zoo. Despite his friends fearing that Ludwig will eat him, Arthur climbs the mountain and convinces Ludwig to go home to the zoo, but he fears that if he goes back to the zoo, people will be scared by his hunger. Snow leopards chase Arthur until Ludwig overcomes his predatory instincts and joins the battle. The snow leopards are so frightened that they never return again. Ludwig, Arthur, Thaws, and Wendy board the ship and wave goodbye to their new friends. Ludwig, Arthur, Thaws, and Wendy return to Tokyo. Now permanently re-opened, the zoo officials bring the escaped animals back into their exhibits. Cast Eric Close as Ludwig, a lion who is king of the Tokyo International Zoo and Burrows's best friend. Skylar Astin as Arthur, a meerkat who is Ludwig's best friend. Albert Brooks as Thaws, a crocodile who is one of Ludwig's friends. Angelina Jolie as Wendy, a giraffe who is one of Ludwig's friends. Alan Tudyk as Austin, king of the pandas. George Clooney as Sterling, a panda who is Austin's luitenant. Eric Bauza as Mark, a Chinese jumping mouse. Tip "T.I." Harris as alpha snow leopard Chiwetel Ejiofor as beta snow leopard Keith Ferguson as snow leopard Jesse Corti as snow leopard Dee Bradley Baker as snow leopard Maurice LaMarche as police officer Tony Anselmo and Vincent Cassel as unseen additional zoo animals. Samuel Le Bihan as Police Horse Tom Kane as zoo announcer Jodi Benson as news reporter Willie Geist, Bob Bergen, Jennifer Christine Vera, and Kath Soucie as additional pandas. Julian Rhind-Tutt as and old lady who beats up Ludwig. Chris Williams as ship captain Jennifer Lee as spider Production After the release of Frozen, Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee wanted to make a film about a lion, a meerkat, a crocodile, and a giraffe being taken from a zoo in Japan and ending up in the jungles of China. In 2015, production began. On October 5, 2016, Eric Close, Skylar Astin, and Albert Brooks were cast. Betty White would have been considered the voice of Wendy, but left due to story problems, being replaced by Jolie. On April 25, 2017, The film was put on the calendar for November 24, 2021. Alan Tudyk and George Clooney joined the cast on November 30, 2020. Eric Bauza joined the cast as a Chinese Jumping Mouse. In February 2021, Tip "T.I." Harris and Chiwetel Ejiofor joined the film. The filmmakers got their collaborator, Christophe Beck.